Category Buyer with German

Company Overview

GEP is a diverse, creative team of people passionate about procurement. We invest ourselves entirely in our client's success, creating strong collaborative relationships that deliver extraordinary value year after year. Our clients include market global leaders with far-flung international operations, Fortune 500 and Global 2000 enterprises, leading government and public institutions.

We deliver practical, effective services and software that enable procurement leaders to maximise their impact on business operations, strategy and financial performance. That's just some of the things that we do in our quest to build a beautiful company, enjoy the journey and make a difference. GEP is a place where individuality is prized, and talent respected. We're focused on what is real and effective. GEP is where good ideas and great people are recognized, results matter, and ability and hard work drive achievements. We're a learning organization, actively looking for people to help shape, grow and continually improve us.

Are you one of us?

GEP is an Equal Opportunity Employer. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, ethnicity, color, national origin, religion, sex, disability status, or any other characteristics protected by law. We are committed to hiring and valuing a global diverse work team.

For more information please visit us on GEP.com or check us out on LinkedIn.com.

What you will do

• Supporting category managers with category strategy plans, sourcing execution, supporting category planning and strategic sourcing tasks
• Leveraging the GEP network of Category Experts and tools, to deliver insights to any project / client.
• Establishing negotiation strategies, identifying and developing negotiation levers, validating them with stakeholders and leading negotiations to ensure savings, timely supply and other benefits for purchases, business analytics, savings reporting and tracking, stakeholder interaction as part of the S2C program
• Discussing with vendors and evaluating their products and capabilities as suppliers;
• Managing all supplier selection and procurement activities (e.g. RFI, RFP, RFQ, Scorecard and Bid Analysis)
• Providing support with respect to Supplier Management/ Procurement processes and policies.
• Demonstrating continuous effort to improve operations, manage SOP's, decrease turnaround times and streamline work processes.
• Identifying and communicating with a diverse range of stakeholders, such as suppliers, project sponsors, end-users and other supporting functions such as HR, Legal and Finance.
• Recruitment & mentorship of junior colleagues.
• Participation in firm building activities.

What you should bring

• 3-5 years of expertise in strategic sourcing
• Proficiency in English and German (both written and spoken)
• Knowledge of the principles and practices of large-scale centralized purchasing
• Strong verbal and written communication skills in order to comfortably engage with all levels of management in client organizations
• Strong analytical, reporting and presentation skills i.e. regarding creating baselines, performing market tests/analyses, summarizing the key points succinctly by email/in presentation
• Experience with leading and executing negotiations
• Ability to manage multiple procurement projects at once and assess new purchase requirements based on spend risk etc.
• Knowledge of variety of categories would be advantageous (trends, suppliers, industry specifics and terminology, legal frameworks)
• Advantage: Any business process improvement methodology such as TQM, Six Sigma, APEX etc.
• #LI-SO1

Benefits that we offer:

• 25 days of annual leave
• Pluxee Benefits
• Meal vouchers
• LinkedIn Learning Access
• 4 sick days (covers short time sickness)
• 1 extra day off for volunteering
• Language lessons - Free sessions at the company premises!
• Team buildings and company events
• Fruits and Sweets Days
• Generous referral bonus
• Membership in vibrant internal communities